GEORGES BRAQUE: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, REPRESENTATIVE WORKS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Georges Braque (1882-1963) was, along with Pablo Picasso, one of the most important developers and representatives of Cubism. He was a painter, sculptor and draftsman during his active years. He also participated as a soldier in the First World War.

Braque began his career very young, when he was only 17 years old. During his first years of life he devoted himself to painting houses, a task that his father and grandfather also had.

The French painter Paul Cézanne was one of the greatest influences that Braque had throughout his artistic training. Although he will always be remembered for his friendship and his disputes with Pablo Picasso. Between them they managed to make Cubism one of the most important artistic styles of all time.

Braque experimented with other styles as well. His early works had characteristics of impressionism and later he leaned towards Fauvism.

His works have been exhibited in the most important museums around the world. He was even the first painter whose work was exhibited in the Louvre museum while he was alive. He is considered the creator of collage as an artistic expression. He also played a very important role in the use of numbers and letters in paintings.

Biography

Early years

Georges Braque was a French painter who was born in a small town near Paris named Argenteuil. It came to the world on May 13, 1882 thanks to the union between Charles Braque and Augustine Johanet. Georges had two sisters.

During his first years of life Braque lived in his grandfather's house. He grew up in a family of amateur painters and artists. This influence allowed Braque to start drawing at a very young age. His father told him about important figures like Monet or Gustave Caillebotte.

By 1890 the Braque family moved to Le Havre, a city northwest of Paris that experienced the Impressionist movement very intensely.

Braque attended a public institution and in his spare time accompanied his father in his work as a house painter. His hobbies also included the flute and sports such as boxing.

In 1912 he married Octavie Eugenia Lapré, better known as Marcelle Vorvanne. She was a model of the time, three years older than Braque. The couple met two years earlier thanks to Pablo Picasso. During the first years of marriage they lived in a small town called Sorgues in the south of France.

First World War

When the First World War started in 1914, Georges Braque was called up by the French army. The painter joined his regiment at Amiens and held the rank of sergeant. By December of the same year he had already been promoted to lieutenant.

In May 1915 Braque suffered serious head injuries due to an explosion. He was operated on on the battlefield and then sent to a hospital in Paris where he stayed for several months.

For a time Braque lost his sight, although he regained his abilities. He returned to the war in April 1916, although he was not fully recovered. Only a couple of months later he was discharged and returned with his wife to Paris.

He was away from the paintings for three years due to his participation in the war and the aftermath of the explosion. It took him a long time to get back to work that had been pending.

Studies

At first his training as a painter was in Le Havre, where he focused on family work. In 1900 he moved to Paris where he attended the Humbert Academy, an institution attended by several important painters such as Francis-Marie Martínez and Marie Laurencin. There Braque had a first approach with landscaping.

Braque dedicated himself to studying the most representative artistic expressions of other times. He dropped out of school when he thought he could not learn anything new and looked for a place where he could have his own studio to work. His early works were destroyed because Braque did not consider them to be good.

During his early days, Braque paid models to come to his studio and serve as muses. The first time the painter exhibited his works in public was in 1906 with six paintings. He had to pay to show his work.

He was influenced by many artists. André Derain introduced him to Fauvism and learned about the work of Henri Matisse and his characteristic use of color. Otho Friesz also fueled Braque's interest in Fauvism.

Although Paul Cézanne was the painter who most inspired Braque during his beginnings and it was thanks to whom he began one of his best-known works: L'Estaque.

Contacts with these painters caused Braque to use more striking colors in his works. When he witnessed The Young Ladies of Avignon, a painting by Pablo Picasso, Braque changed his course towards cubism.

Relationship with Picasso

Picasso and Braque met in 1907 thanks to Guillaume Apollinaire, although the friendship between them began two years later. Apollinaire first told Braque about the great collection of nude works that Picasso had done up to that time and brought him to his studio.

The two painters became very close over several years. They used to go to an art gallery every day and it was very common to see them around Montmartre. Both began to make different works that were so similar that not even those closest to them could distinguish who was the author of each work.

Both were considered the inventors of Cubism, but Picasso's fame was far superior to that of Braque, who always seemed to be in the background.

Braque acknowledged that for seven years they were able to maintain a strong friendship, despite the fact that their personalities were nothing similar.

Later, Picasso and Braque used to meet occasionally, but they always viewed each other's work with a certain distrust. Picasso at a Braque exhibition the best he could say was that the paintings had been well hung in the room.

Differences

As they themselves recognized, the character of both was very different. Despite being the ones who promoted Cubism, they also had some differences on an artistic level. Braque's works were more repressed, with less tendency to address issues related to sexuality.

They were also very different in terms of production level. Picasso was much faster than Braque, for whom a work could take years. It is estimated that between 1912 and 1914 Braque completed just over 50 works, while Picasso completed more than three hundred.

It is believed that the most elite groups in French society were more inclined to the works of Braque. Historians say the reason is that Braque was a much more discreet artist.

Style

Georges Braque focused in his paintings on capturing inanimate objects, or what is known in art as still life. He lived two very marked periods within Cubism, on the one hand his works focused on the analytical part, but he also showed characteristics of synthetic cubism.

Source: brau, via Wikimedia Commons.

Within analytical cubism, the use of geometric figures was very common. While in the synthetic style the use of collage, numbers and letters was used, something in which Braque was a pioneer thanks to the use of different techniques.

For his collages, Braque used all kinds of materials. Clippings of different publications, the labels of alcoholic beverages, packaging of different products (such as cigarettes or food) and any colorful resource that could reach the painter's hands. Picasso also used this technique and even perfected it over time.

Throughout his professional life he experimented with different artistic movements. Some of Braque's works have details of Impressionism or Fauvism. His style was also evolving in terms of the use of color. It went from bright, flashy hues to bleak scenes during wartime.

Representative works

Georges Braque was the author of more than 200 works, including paintings and sculptures, during his active days. One of his most representative works was L'Estaque, a 1906 painting that showed many similarities to the works of Paul Cézanne.

Over the years, Braque proved to be an artist of great versatility.

The bather

This work was also known by the name of Great nude or Great bather. It is heavily influenced by Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse's use of color. It is an oil on canvas that is currently exhibited in Paris.

Braque in this work (from 1907) left aside the representation of landscapes. He used few lines to represent the female figure.

Portuguese

This work can be found in the Basel Museum of Art. Braque captured letters and numbers in this painting for the first time thanks to the use of a template that served as a pattern. This technique became known by the name of stenciling.

Still life

During the second decade of the 20th century, Braque began experimenting with new formats. In Still Life, he forgets the square structure of the canvases and presents a work with an oval format.

It was a way to leave behind pure geometric shapes. For historians, this new presentation served to create a new form of expression within Cubism.

Last years

During the 1940s, Braque's work took a turn, especially with the use of color. The Second World War had a great impact on the French painter. The tones of his paintings became darker and gray. His work was associated with pain and sadness. Throughout those last years he painted Black Fish, The Billiard Table and Workshop.

Birds were very present in Braque's works during this stage. For this reason he decorated one of the ceilings of the Louvre Museum where you can see large birds on a blue background. By this time, Braque was already 70 years old and his health had already deteriorated. The decoration of the Louvre room took about three months.

Robberies

Throughout the years Georges Braque's paintings have been highly sought after by thieves. In 2010 The Olive Tree Near the Pond, a 1906 painting, was stolen from its exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Along with Braque's work they took a painting by Matisse, Modigliani, Léger and another by Picasso.

Earlier, in 1993, two of Braque's paintings had also been stolen from a museum in Stockholm. In this case it was The Castle and The Still Life. None of Braque's paintings were insured when they were stolen.

Recognitions

Braque received the Feltrinelli Prize in 1958 while still alive. This award is the most important recognition given in Italy in science and culture. The prize consisted of 20 thousand lire for the French.

In 1951 he also received the National Order of the Legion of Honor. It is the most important decoration that someone can receive in France. There are six categories and Braque received the third in importance when he was appointed Commander.

By 1961, two years before his death, Braque became the first painter whose works were exhibited at the Louvre while he was still alive. He beat Picasso in this regard. The exhibition was a compilation of his works.

In France there are several academic institutions named after the painter.

When Georges Braque died in 1963 a state funeral was arranged for him. The ceremony was proposed and organized by the minister of culture of the moment in France, André Malraux. The minister even gave a speech to those present and compared Braque to Victor Hugo.

References

1. Braque, G. (2014). The day and the night. Barcelona: Cliff.
2. Danchev, A. (2006). Georges Braque. Praha: BB / art.
3. Gallatin, A. (1943). Georges Braque. New York: Wittenborn and Company.
4. Martin, A., & Braque, G. (1979). Georges Braque, stylistic formation and transition, 1900-1909. Harvard University.
5. Zurcher, B., Meister, G., Braque, G., & Zurcher, B. (1988). Braque, Life and Work. Friborg: Office du livre.